Tomasz Hanusiak, creator of Blefuj
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The settings and mechanics described here exist in the Blefuj game. House rules that the app does not enforce are clearly labelled.
Impostor with 3 players and with 10 players are almost two different games: the voting maths, round length and how easily the bluffer hides all change. Below is a suggested starting point for every group size. We separate two things: the settings you tap in the app, and the house rules you police yourselves, because the app has no timer and no referee.
What you set in the app
The setup screen has five dials that genuinely change the game. The impostor limits are built in and can't be bypassed: with 3–5 players there is always 1 impostor, with 6–8 you can set 1–2, and with 9–10 up to 3.
| Setting | Options | When to change it |
|---|---|---|
| Impostor count | 1 (3–5 players), 1–2 (6–8), 1–3 (9–10) | A second impostor from 6 players up; a third only with 9–10 and a seasoned group. |
| Difficulty | Mix, Easy, Medium, Hard | Easy for a first game and with younger players; Hard for a crew that already knows the rhythm. |
| Hint mode | No hints · Hint for the impostor · Hints for everyone | The impostor hint evens the odds with 3–4 players; no hints when the impostor wins too often. |
| Variant | Classic, Chaos | Chaos (the impostor gets a similar but different word) livens things up once clues have become too cautious. |
| Family Mode | on / off | Turn it on when kids are at the table: only simple, safe words remain, and the Brands category leaves the list. |
The app has no per-clue timer and no “last chance” rule. Voting means the group points at one person together; if that person is an impostor (with two, either of them), the civilians win the round, and the result screen reveals the word and keeps a win tally as long as you keep hitting “play again”. Everything else below is a house rule, labelled as such.
The general rule
The starting point is one impostor per 4–5 civilians; the app won't allow more in a small group anyway. Fewer impostors, and civilians win too easily, because every shaky clue stands out. More, and the impostors can outvote the honest players. The second dial is pace: the bigger the group, the shorter the clues and the pre-vote debate should be, because the round grows linearly with player count and patience doesn't.
3 players, the detective game
- In the app: 1 impostor (the only option with 3–5 players), Easy difficulty, Hint for the impostor, a concrete category such as Food, Animals or Home.
- Why: with 3 players every clue is under a microscope, and an impostor with no hint at all has very little room to bluff.
- House rule: two clue rounds before the vote, one gives too little data.
- Common problem: the impostor wins too often, switch to No hints.
Example setup: 3 players, 1 impostor with a hint, Easy, the Food category, two clue rounds (house rule).
4 players, the starter classic
- In the app: 1 impostor, Easy or Mix difficulty, Hint for the impostor, universal categories: Travel, Everyday Objects, Nature.
- House rule: when opinions split 2:2, run one extra clue round before you point at anyone in the app.
- Common problem: pair voting (I vote you, you vote me), requiring spoken reasons fixes it.
Example setup: 4 players, 1 impostor with a hint, the Travel category, one full clue round plus a quick follow-up before naming the suspect.
5 players, the sweet spot
- In the app: 1 impostor (the app won't allow two with 5 players, rightly so: two impostors could outvote three civilians), Mix difficulty, any hint mode.
- Categories: any universal set plus one themed pick if the group shares a hobby.
- House rule: rotate who opens each round.
- Common problem: the fifth player has no easy clues left, that's by design; bluffing shows most there.
Example setup: 5 players, 1 impostor, the Movies & Series category, Mix difficulty, Hints for everyone (rarer titles stop being a problem), a rotating opener.
6 players, the two-impostor threshold
- In the app: 1 impostor for a calm game, 2 for chaos (the app unlocks it from 6 players; warn the group!), Mix difficulty.
- Categories: broader ones, e.g. Places, Music, Sport, less clue-collision risk.
- House rule: ~15 seconds per clue and at most 2 minutes of debate; someone with a watch keeps time.
- House rule: with 2 impostors, agree they can't point at each other.
Example setup: 6 players, 2 impostors with hints, the Places category, Mix, 15 seconds per clue and 2 minutes of debate (house rules).
8 players, pace control
- In the app: 2 impostors (one alone vanishes in a crowd of eight), Mix or Hard difficulty, because easy words run out of clues by the eighth player.
- Categories: roomy ones, e.g. Nature, Jobs, Hobbies.
- House rule: 10 seconds per clue; without it a round can pass fifteen minutes.
- House rule: before naming the suspect in the app, everyone points at once on a count of three, no bandwagoning.
- Common problem: players late in the order tune out, reverse the speaking direction each round.
Example setup: 8 players, 2 impostors, the Jobs category, Mix, 10 seconds per clue and count-of-three pointing (house rules).
10 players, a full house
- In the app: 2 impostors (3, available from 9 players, only as an experiment for veterans), Hard difficulty, with 10 clues on one word easy categories collapse.
- Categories: the broadest ones, rotated each round, e.g. Places, Nature, Hobbies.
- House rule: “last chance”, a caught impostor can still win by guessing the word aloud before you open the result; at this scale it's a great finale.
- Common problem: half the table drifts off-topic, appoint a round leader who keeps the order moving.
Example setup: 10 players, 2 impostors with no hints, the Places category, Hard, 10 seconds per clue and “last chance” as the finale (house rules).
Cheat sheet
| Players | Impostors (app max) | Difficulty | Hints | Round length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 (1) | Easy | for the impostor | 2–4 min |
| 4 | 1 (1) | Easy/Mix | for the impostor | 3–5 min |
| 5 | 1 (1) | Mix | for everyone | 4–6 min |
| 6 | 1–2 (2) | Mix | for the impostor | 5–7 min |
| 8 | 2 (2) | Mix/Hard | for the impostor | 6–9 min |
| 10 | 2 (3) | Hard | none | 8–12 min |